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WASHINGTON – Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement on behalf of civil rights leaders from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, National Action Network, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, and the National Urban League after meeting with Attorney General Jeff Sessions on a wide range of issues affecting the civil and human rights of all Americans. This marked the first in-person meeting between these organizations and Attorney General Sessions.

“Today we met with Attorney General Sessions to present the agenda of the national civil rights community that includes the protection of voting rights, aggressive enforcement of hate crimes and the Violence Against Women Act, criminal justice reform and enforcement of police department consent decrees, and protections for LGBTQ people. We also expressed our profound disappointment and grave concern regarding recent Department of Justice actions, including the revised Muslim travel ban announced by the administration on Monday.

We are deeply troubled by the steps already taken by the Attorney General to abdicate his responsibility to enforce civil rights laws affecting access to voting, oversight of troubled police departments, and the protection of LGBTQ individuals. We encouraged the Attorney General to prioritize protection of marginalized people and robust enforcement of existing civil rights laws. We urged him to fully fund and support the Civil Rights Division.

We also called on the Department to continue the smart-on-crime initiatives focused on eliminating disparities in federal prosecutions of low-level drug offenses and to bring its full resources to bear in addressing increases in hate violence across the country. We urged the Department to fully enforce the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), by encouraging the Trump administration and Congress to fully fund VAWA and to fully staff the Office of Violence Against Women and Office of Victims of Crime. We also asked the Attorney General to counsel the president against mass deportations of undocumented individuals.

To our dismay, the Attorney General offered no commitment to ensure all of the nation’s civil rights laws are enforced and that people of color, women, language minorities, immigrants, individuals with disabilities, seniors, religious minorities, and LGBTQ communities will be protected from discrimination and violence.

The Attorney General must be above partisan politics and pursue justice on behalf of all Americans, especially the most marginalized in our society. We will continue to oppose any efforts to erode civil rights or backtrack on important progress that has been made. Too much is at stake for us to remain silent.”

The civil rights leaders in the meeting included:

Wade Henderson, president and CEO, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Kristen Clarke, president & executive director, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Rev. Al Sharpton, founder and president, National Action Network
Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Melanie L. Campbell, president and CEO, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and convener, Black Women's Roundtable
Marc Morial, president and CEO, National Urban League

Video of the leaders speaking to the press after their meeting with the Attorney General is available here.

WASHINGTON — As thousands gather in the nation’s capital for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundations’ Annual Legislative Conference, leaders say the message and motto is simple: And Still I Rise.

While political leaders, experts and a ‘who’s who’ in media, entertainment and politics come together to network (and party), it is also a time for serious conversations on issues affecting communities of color.

On Wednesday, black women led the discussion on criminal justice, voting rights and job creation. At the highly anticipated Black Women’s Roundtable policy forum discussion, political leaders, activists, and experts discussed results from the Power of the Sister Vote Poll conducted by the roundtable and Essence Magazine.

September 14, 2017 (Washington, DC) – On Wednesday, September 20, 2017, the Black Women’s Roundtable (BWR) will hold its 9th Annual Public Policy Forum, in partnership with ESSENCE and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF), during the opening day of the 2017 CBCF’s Annual Legislative Conference in Washington, DC.

The Forum, entitled Time for a Power Shift: Black Women Leading the Resistance in the Streets. Changing Political & Economic Power from Capitol Hill, State Capitols to City Halls, the Board Room to the C-Suites, will be held from 2:00 p.m. until 5:15 p.m. in Room 207 AB, the Washington Convention Center.

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The Black Women's Roundtable, a national civic group, released its fourth annual report today about African-American women in the U.S., providing a "prescriptive agenda" of key political, economic, and social issues that impact the nation's 23 million Black women, their families and communities.

The 72-page document, entitled 'Black Women in the U.S., 2017: Moving Our Agenda Forward in a Post-Obama Era,' was released to coincide with the group's 6th annual "Women of Power" national summit, taking place this week in the nation's capital and Arlington, Virginia.

The undersigned are prominent African-American women leaders and we write to express our outrage at the actions taken last night by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Republican majority on the Senate floor.

Last night, on the floor of the Senate, Senator Elizabeth Warren delivered a powerful statement in opposition to the nomination of Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions to be Attorney General of the United States. Senator McConnell interrupted Senator Warren when she began quoting a letter written by Coretta Scott King, the wife of renowned civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. Senator McConnell said Senator Warren had "impugned the motives and conduct" of Senator Sessions.

WASHINGTON –The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and 155 civil and human rights groups today called upon the Executive Branch to respond more quickly and forcefully to hate-based incidents, which have been occurring at an alarming rate in recent months. The statement follows:

“Our diversity is part of what makes America great, and incidents motivated by hate are an affront to the values we share. No one should face acts of violence or intimidation because of their race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, disability, or national origin.

WASHINGTON – Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement on behalf of civil rights leaders from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, National Action Network, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, and the National Urban League after meeting with Attorney General Jeff Sessions on a wide range of issues affecting the civil and human rights of all Americans. This marked the first in-person meeting between these organizations and Attorney General Sessions.

The Black Women’s Roundtable and ESSENCE Magazine held a non-partisan, Power of the Sister Vote (POSV) Townhall Meeting in historic Charleston, SC, on Friday February 19, at the ILA Community Building located at 1140 Morrison Drive, Charleston, S.C. . The event took place before the South Carolina primaries scheduled for Saturday, February 20 (Republican) and Saturday, February 27, 2016 (Democratic). Actress Erika Alexander “Living Single,”star of the upcoming the Amazon “Bosch” will be on the panel. Moderators wwill include ESSENCE Magazine Contributors April D. Ryan, White House Correspondent and author of the Presidency in Black and White, CNN political contributor Donna Brazile (invited) and CNN political analyst Tara Setmayer. Co-hosts were Melanie Campbell, national convener, Black Women’s Roundtable and president & CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and Clayola Brown, president, A. Philip Randolph Institute.